Pregnancy #3

The funny thing is when you are prego it seems you might as well walk around town with a sign around your neck saying, "please give me some advice, I really enjoy it when perfect strangers give me advice."

When folks see me walking around with 2 girls they are desperate to know the gender of my baby, which is fun because having a boy seems like a bit of a novelty since I have two girls already, and everyone seems to glory in that excitement with me. And then the questions/comments start...oh yea it is a boy because you are carrying low/high, wide/long (pick your flavor), etc. And then it is, oh you are gaining more weight because it is a boy, or oh your boobs are huge because it is a boy... And finally it moves to his would be personality...he is going to be mellow because he is the 3rd...he is going to be a terror because he is the 3rd.

This is all interesting to me and I just nod because they certainly don't know anything more than I know, and I don't know why folks feel a need to predict what my life will look like when he arrives, or why my boobs are huge for that matter.

One of my friends was recently shocked to hear that Annelise was late because everyone knows that ALL 2nd babies come early. My response was, "Lies! Lies! They are all lies!" Several of my friends had longer/harder labors with their 2nd child...why do we need to fill our heads with possibilities? I know I do the same thing, and I need to stop it.

Someone once told me that she willed her baby out 10 days early...well, I don't think there is a person on the planet that willed their baby out more than I willed Annelise out, and she was 2 weeks late (and I even tried castor oil).

Anyway, I attribute all my prego woes to the fact that this is my third baby, and most all the moms I've talked to have said that each prego gets a little harder (don't know how that chic with 19 kiddos does it)... I feel everything more, I definitely am bigger (not sure if I'm bigger in the belly, but I'm definitely bigger in the boobs...can't wear a lot of things that I wore last time around), and my sciatica is really giving me trouble this time around. Other than those little complaints it all seems to be going well. The little man is growing, his heart is strong, he is very active, and must have a head of hair because my heartburn is kicking it up a notch.

I'm not too anxious for him to arrive yet. I'll be happy to meet him, but I can definitely wait on it. I have big plans for the summer with the girls and I want to take full advantage of every minute I have with them before he comes. Summer will begin for us in 2 weeks and I have lots of fun things planned for us, family vacation, a nephew's high school graduation, trips to the zoo and the pool, VBS, hopefully a trip to visit a Germany friend, and then lots of fun time sitting around reading and singing and coloring and playing and building...and then my life will change forever again. Hopefully we will be able to agree on a name before he makes his debut. For now he could be named after a theologian, a hymn writer, a family member, a city...and many things in between.